Hall and Oates go together

Pete Iorizzo, Commentary

Published 9:38 pm, Monday, June 25, 2012

More than 25 years later, the former RPI captain still can see Adam Oates' pass coming.

Oates was gliding up the left boards, drawing the Colgate defensemen toward him. Then, without breaking stride, he backhanded a pass over their sticks and across the ice. The puck plopped to the surface and slid onto Mike Sadeghpour's tape, as if drawn by a magnet.

"The thing was," said Sadeghpour, who broke into the zone and scored on the play, "he would do stuff like that all the time."

Oates made a career of making others better, whether he was setting up Sadeghpour or John Carter or George Servinis on RPI's 1985 national championship team, or helping Brett Hull to three consecutive seasons of 70-plus goals, or presently serving as a New Jersey Devils assistant coach, where he ran the special-teams units for a team that reached the Stanley Cup Finals.

Oates was, in short, the ultimate teammate who for some odd reason keeps being denied hockey's highest individual honor.

On Tuesday, 18 former players, coaches, administrators and journalists will have a chance to elect Oates to the Hall of Fame, just as they have every year since 2007. Fifteen other former NHL players have been elected in that time, including four centers.

"I don't get it," said Sadeghpour, the captain of RPI's national championship team. "Just looking at it objectively, I don't know how you argue that he's not a Hall of Famer."

It is much easier to argue that he is.

Among the players eligible, Oates has the second most points. He trails only Brendan Shanahan, though it's worth pointing out Shanahan had just one 100-point season. Oates totaled four.

When Oates retired in 2004, he was sixth all-time in assists. He still is — and will be for years. The closest active player (Joe Thornton) is 325 assists behind.

Oates also finished his career fourth all-time in assists per game. He was in good company. You might recognize the names of Nos. 1, 2 and 3: Wayne Gretzky. Mario Lemieux. Bobby Orr.

During the peak of his 19-year career, Oates played for the Blues, Bruins and Capitals. He centered 50-goal scorers at every stop: Hull (Blues), Cam Neely (Bruins) and Peter Bondra (Capitals).

Still, last year he watched two of his peers — fellow centers Joe Nieuwendyk and Doug Gilmour — earn induction. Oates had more points than both of them.

One of the more reserved stars of his era, Oates wouldn't be one to complain about his Hall of Fame slights. It probably bothers him much more that he's never won a Stanley Cup. The Devils' loss in the Finals was the third of Oates' career.

"He wouldn't let on that it means a lot to him, but to get into the Hall of Fame, that's a huge accomplishment," said former RPI player Dino Macaluso, Oates' financial adviser and close friend.

"I look at the math and I see who gets in, and I shake my head. I think he deserves it. I think people have forgotten how good he was. That's the way it is in sports. Once you retire, they forget about you real quick."

But not everyone forgets.

Sadeghpour still remembers seeing that backhand pass, the puck saucering above the sticks of two defensemen before sliding across the ice and onto the tape of his own.